Curbed NY – Christine Quinn, Hands Off Our Freakshow!
Fact: The biggest joke in New York is the Rent Guidelines Board. Every year this nine-member panel gathers to hold a series of circus-like public hearings on rent increases (or, heh, decreases) for stabilized apartments. Every year, tenant groups demand a rent freeze, and landlord groups demand double-digit increases. Every year, the increases fall somewhere in the middle (this year is a little high, though), following lots of shouting, some impromptu jam sessions and occasional nudity. But here’s the thing: it’s only now, when this annual theater is suddenly threatened, that we realize how much we’d miss the damn thing.
Quinn (City Council Speaker) is supporting a state bill that would restructure the board (which is appointed by the mayor and includes two members representing tenants, two representing landlords, and five representing the “general public”), deny rent increases for one year on buildings with serious violations, and require the use of a tenant’s income and expenses in determining whether an increase is warranted.
So, owners would be subject to the needs of their tenants?
I doubt the “general public” she refers to includes the interests of the renters moving to New York or market rate renters…
Also:
NY Sun: Speaker Quinn Urges Overhaul of Rent Board
